Install, Enable & Uninstall

The core OpenCPN tries to keep features to a minimum so that it is lean, mean and easy to use. Features can still be added through the plugin infrastructure. Both the older Plugin Package Installation (PI) and the Package Manager (PM) are supported by Opencpn v5.2.4.

Pre Installed Plugins

Grib Weather
Dashboard
WMM Plugin
Chart Downloader

The release of OpenCPN 5.x includes the new more direct Plugin Manager (PIM) (Options > Plugins > “+” ) which permits user selection of plugins for Installation via the internet from Cloud sources and Plugin Management (update, reinstallation and removal). This new system is different from the earlier manually installed Plugin Packages Installer (PI) , and will only “Uninstall” it's own kind of plugin.

Below are some suggestions for using these two plugin installation systems. OpenCPN is moving to the (PM) system as quickly as possible and has prioritized that:

• PI =Plugin Package Installer: Plugin installed the “old fashioned way” (uses exe, deb, pkg).
• PIM =Plugin Manager: Plugin installed by the Plugin manager automatically within the interface (uses 'tarballs').
• Both types of plugin installations installations are supported.
• PI and PIM Plugins are installed in different directories. See Where are my Plugins installed? below.
• PI Plugins can be installed at the PI directory, while the same plugin is installed by the Plugin Manager.
• OpenCPN will prioritize the PM plugin if both are present.

So, if you want to use the Plugin Package Installer (PI) plugin instead:

• Uninstall the (PIM) Plugin Manager version at Options→Plugins.
• Notice the (PI) version designation will be like '5.1' (two digits)
• While a (PM) version will have also the patch designation like: '5.1.4' (three digits)

When you want to return to a PM version do update the plugin catalog and install it.

Please refer to Plugin Versions below.

Default Plugins, Plugin Package Installer (PI) and Plugin Manager (PIM) Types can all exist in the Options > Plugins menu, however the manually installed Plugin Packages (of a given name), must be manually removed before a new Plugin Manager version of the same name can be installed. The installation process is very different for both types. Plugin Packages are useful for download with internet access and later installation at sea. Plugin Manager is more convenient and useful when there is good internet access to cloud repositories. The user can distinguish between these different plugin types by the icon to the right in the Options > Plugins listing. There is a hover message which also helps.

These newly rebuilt plugins will not work with older versions of OpenCPN.

Because the Plugin Manager (PIM) uses internet links and access to cloud repositories and “Catalogs” or lists of available plugins, it provides a more seamless user experience than the Plugin Package (PI) Installers. The installation of the Plugin Manager (PI) is done completely from within the Plugin Interface Options > Plugins.

PIM uses the internet to access tarball files located on storage servers. The files can be located anywhere, but most of them are located in Cloudsmith

• Cloudsmith Opencpn repository. https://cloudsmith.io/~opencpn/repos/
• “Prod” is for the production version, ready for release.
• Direct download the latest release tarball.
• In OpenCPN Options > Plugins “Import Plugin” should work for all supported platforms.

Alec Leamas has provided an extensive "Tentative" Manual for Plugin Manager which provides details about it's operations.

(We need screen shots and more description here.)

• + Menu to access the Plugin Manager list.
• Install
• Uninstall
• Reinstall
• Update Plugins Catalog
• Catalog Manager - Cancel, OK
• Advanced Catalog Update.
• Advanced Catalog Channel - Experimental, Alpha, Beta, Release
• Custom Catalog URL

• Plugin Package Installation (PI) is the older more familar manual process.
• Packaged Plugin executable ( (*.exe, *.deb, *.pkg, *.dmg) Installers are “manually” downloaded and installed and manually removed.
• In OpenCPN Options > Plugins the “Manual Uninstall” button will be greyed out fot these types of plugins because they must be “manually” uninstalled or removed.
• Release of OpenCPN 4.2 upgrades the user framework for Plugins to a newer version, which means it is not binary compatible with the previous releases and all Plugins for Windows, Linux and MacOS must be rebuilt for compatibility. Plugins compiled for v4.2 will work in Opencpn v5.0.
• Current Plugin Packages normally have “ov50” in the filename indicating compatiblity with Opencpn v5.0 forward.
• Current Plugin Packages will NOT have the Uninstall button “enabled” in Options > Plugins, therefore these Plugin Package Installations must be removed as they were installed, “manually” with the details dependent on the Operating System.

Most plugins provide platform installation packages (*.exe, *.deb, *.pkg, *.dmg) that allow the plugin to be installed by downloading the package from various locations, the latest of which is cloudsmith. These packages can be installed by 'running' them on the platform they are intended for (this is indicated in the file name). This is also known as a “Manual Installation of a “Packaged Plugin”.

Packaged Plugins are found primarily on the dedicated page OpenCPN Download Plugins

• Cloudsmith repositories also contain “Packaged Plugins”..
• Github repositories under the Release Tab for each Plugin Developer.
• For a complete list of plugins read the recent posts in this forum thread.

• Please refer to this page Install Linux Plugins
• You should be able to install from the main repository that you installed OpenCPN from. This will use the standard installation process your version of Linux uses.
• It is possible that you may be able to use a simple plugin by finding the 'executable' file and placing the downloaded “pluginxx.so” in {prefix}/lib/opencpn, which means /usr/lib/opencpn for a standard installation, using the provided packages. If you are compiling yourself {prefix} may be ”/usr/local“ instead of ”/usr“. Check “opencpn.log” if necessary. However, if the plugin requires data, icons, etc. this will leave a, probably, non-functional plugin on the system.

• Linux users can use yum (redhat based) or apt or dpkg (debian/ubuntu base) command lines as well as the gui's, Synaptic Package Manger (debian/ubuntu), gnome-software (redhat).

• The downloaded file is usually an executable ”.exe“ installation file. Click on the file and follow the instructions. If the file is a “_.dll” place the downloaded “pluginxx.dll” in a “plugins” sub folder of your OpenCPN installation folder. A common location is C:\Program Files\OpenCPN\plugins.
• Once the plugin is in the right directory, restart OpenCPN and proceed to enabling the plugin.

• Using Administrative permission, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN [Version Number] and execute the Uninstall-[Pluginname].exe in that directory.
• Using Administrative permission, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN [Version Number]\plugins and simply delete appropriate [pluginname].dll file and [pluginname] subdirectory.
• Additionally, if you remove the dll and directory manually, without using the uninstall.exe, you should open the Opencpn.ini file in the C:\ProgramData\opencpn directory with a text editor and search for “plugins”, to find these lines
• [Plugins] - remove reference to the plugin.
• [PlugIns/[pluginname]_pi.dll] bEnabled=0 - Remove these lines.
• You will also find other lines with the plugin user settings, but these can be left in place if you wish.
• Common Paths used by Opencpn Plugin Packages
  • Dll and plugin subdirectory: C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN [version number]\plugins
  • User Plugin Data: cd %programdata%/opencpn/plugins goes to “C:\ProgramData\opencpn\plugins”.
  • Also same directory as “C:\Users\All Users\opencpn\plugins”

• The plugin will come as a pkg file. Double-click the pkg file and follow the install instructions. This will place the plugin files in the proper locations.

• This is less clean, but this link shows how to uninstall macOS sotware: https://techsviewer.com/how-to-completely-uninstall-application-in-mac/

All plugins must be Enabled, can be Disabled and when upgraded need to be re-Enabled. Also occassionally a plugin needs to have Troubleshooting, more information about Plugin Versions, also Blacklisted Plugins

Plugins are made available by clicking on the plugin in the Options→Plugins Tab. Once this is done, an “Enable” button appears. Pressing this button activates the plugin icon in the ToolBar and changes the the default “grayed out” text to black in the list. Not all plugins have an icon when active. For most plugins there is a “Preferences” Button for configuration.

When a plugin is disabled in the Options→Plugin tab, the plugin Icon disappears from the ToolBar.

The Plugin Icon works as a toggle switch for the plugin. Pressing the Grib Icon, for example, activates the Grib plugin. Pressing one more time deactivates it.

The WMM Icon uses a new feature, by displaying the magnetic variation, at the position of OwnShip in the button itself.

Version 4.2 has implemented automatic reload of updated PlugIns by visiting the Options→Plugins screen.

Presumably the plugins are rescanned and loaded.

Previously, after a plugin was Disabled, the program had to be shut down and reopened for the full change of Opencpn status to occur. This is no longer necessary, simply go to the Option→Plugins screen and all plugins will be reloaded.

If you run into problems with plugins, first check what the opencpn.log file says.

For each plugin you will find lines similar to:

    08:59:25 CEST: PlugInManager searching for PlugIns in location /usr/lib/opencpn\\
08:59:25 CEST: PlugInManager: Loading PlugIn: /usr/lib/opencpn/libweather_routing_pi.so\\
08:59:25 CEST: /usr/lib/opencpn/libweather_routing_pi.so\\
API Version detected: 110\\
PlugIn Version detected: 101

This example is from Linux.

On Windows systems the location of the log file will be displayed when you click “Help” (the ? mark icon) on the toolbar. Alternatively, to find the “opencpn.log” on your system read Installation.

The release of OpenCPN 5.2.4 upgrades the user framework for Plugins to a newer version Plugin Manager (PM) which uses new file formats (xml metadata and tarball) and provides a more comprehensive installation interface within Options > Plugin. The older Plugin Package Installer (PI) framework is still supported (for transition)

The release of OpenCPN 4.2 upgrades the user frameworks for Plugins to a newer version Plugin Package Installer (PI), which means it is not binary compatible with the previous releases and all Plugins for Windows and Linux must be rebuilt for compatibility. It is expected that this Plugin interface will remain stable for some time so Plugins will work across different (future) versions of OpenCPN.

With OpenCPN v5.2.4 the plugin system changed from Plugin Installer (PI) “self-managed” to Plugin Manager (PM) “managed” inside Options > Plugins

Plugin Package Manager (PI) - Older process

• Executable and Plugin Data: C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN [version number]\plugins (both Internal and External Plugins)
• User Plugin Data %programdata%/opencpn/plugins or C:\Users\All Users\opencpn\plugins or C:\ProgramData\opencpn\plugins

Plugin Manager (PIM) - Newer

• External Plugin User Executables and User Plugin Data %LOCALAPPDATA%\opencpn\plugins (External Plugins only)
• or alternatively the same folder C:\Users[User]\AppData\Local\opencpn\plugins
• Thus all 'External' Plugin executables and the plugin data are in a user accessible folder.
• Internal Plugin dll remain at C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN 5.2.4\plugins
• Data: C:\ProgramData\opencpn\plugins (same)

For further reference about the difference between ProgramData and AppData. Plugin Manager chooses to use the Users AppData (%LOCALAPPDATA%) which is typical and better for a number of technical reasons.

Above is for Windows, for other Operating Systems and more details please read this documentation: https://github.com/leamas/OpenCPN/wiki/Installation-pathspaths

Default Internal Plugins

• Executable and Data “C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN [version]\plugins

Cache -Metadata and Tarball

Just to be complete, there is a cache file that stores all the Plugin Manager (PM) tarballs that have been downloaded. These normally do not have to be accessed or cleaned out. However some developers may find that it is necessary to remove these files and start over if they are working on the proper results in the Plugin Interface. For windows the location is

• Metadata file: C:\ProgramData\opencpn\plugins\cache\metadata You will find the ocpn-plugins.xml being used.
• Tarball files: C:\ProgramData\opencpn\plugins\cache\tarballs You will find all tarballs that have been downloaded.

The tarball cache can build up, it is a resource for reinstallation, so if you are at sea without internet don't remove these files.

Plugins or versions of plugins known to be problematic can be Blacklisted.

A dialog pops up for 5 seconds when starting OpenCPN, if a blacklisted plugin is detected. This will happen even if the plugin is not enabled. A number of plugins are blacklisted. They are, mainly, old problematic versions of plugins. There is always a newer version of a blacklisted plugin, or, in worst case scenario, one will soon be released.